[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 30 (Thursday, February 12, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H2190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   YOUR TAX DOLLARS ARE FUNDING THIS

  (Ms. DEXTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DEXTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell the American people 
exactly what their tax dollars are being used for: imprisoning 
children, even infants.
  Last month, DHS agents detained a sick 7-year-old and her parents in 
an urgent care parking lot while they were trying to get her medical 
attention.
  Then they sent that child to the Nation's largest family detention 
facility, recently reopened by Trump, a facility where families report 
there is contaminated food, limited access to clean water, and where 
there have been confirmed measles cases.
  Your tax dollars are funding this.
  Last Friday, I traveled to Texas to fight to bring Diana and her 
family home to Oregon. I am grateful that Diana is home safe in 
Gresham.
  This never should have happened in the first place. It is immoral to 
jail children. It should enrage every American that their tax dollars 
are being used to do so.
  Congress controls the power of the purse. It is past time to reassert 
that authority and end this horrific practice. We must draw a bright 
red line: Taxpayer dollars cannot be used to imprison children. That is 
the bare minimum.

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